"The notion that such persons are gay of heart and carefree is curiously untrue. They lead, as a matter of fact, an existence of jumpiness and apprehension. They sit on the edge of the chair of Literature. In the house of Life they have the feeling that they have never taken off their overcoats."- James Thurber, My Life and Hard Times

Thursday, September 13, 2012

Squee! I got something cool!

I worked a fundraiser last Saturday, as most of you know. As with most fundraisers, this one had baskets of goodies to be purchased in a silent auction. I won this basket:

"Won" as in "was top bidder and paid money to take home."It's a cool Dashiell Hammett basket and I was the only bidder because no one recognized who Dashiell Hammett is and what the basket contained. Ha Ha, more for me. Yes, it's nice to have my own copy of The Thin Man. I've actually already got the DVD collection of Thin Man movies. What I really wanted was this:

Look closely at the upper left corner.

These are two previously unpublished novellas, written by Hammett specifically for the films that became After the Thin Man and Another Thin Man. They've been edited by his granddaughter, Julie M. Rivett, who signed this copy. This advanced reader copy.Oh, yeah. I'm in heaven.Never saw a Thin Man movie? Watch this clip of moments from several of the films. You'll want to watch them all.